Goa to host 71st Santosh Trophy from 12 March

The Goa Football Association is set to host the 71st Santosh Trophy beginning from 12 March with the first match being played between Goa and Meghalaya.

The maiden match will be played at the SAG Athletic Stadium in Bambolim at Goa.

In another clash on the same day, Chandigarh will take on West Bengal at Rosary Ground in Navelim in the coastal state.

"We had a very fruitful meeting of the organising committee, chaired by GFA chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma.

We will do our best to make this a memorable tournament and we hope the crowd supports our team in this endeavour," general secretary of the GFA Welvin Menezes was quoted as saying in an official press note.

The Rosary Ground will host two more matches during the tournament, while the Tilak Maidan in Vasco has been marked to host a majority of the matches.

Goa had last hosted the tournament in 1996 where it had lost to arch rival West Bengal in the final match.

The teams that have qualified for the final round are: Services, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Goa and Chandigarh and are placed in Group A, while Kerala, Maharashra, Mizoram, Railways and Punjab make up Group B.

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals. The final is slated to be held on 26 March at Bambolim.

Bambolim and Tilak Midan would be the two main venues for the matches with Bambolim hosting all of Goa's matches, it said.